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The British show up for the Queen's English car show in California

March 18, 2012

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The sun never sets on the British Empire, and on March 18, after 24 hours of solid rain, it shone brightly on a British car show, the Queen's English car show, held in Woodley Park in Van Nuys, Calif. The weather was a welcome change considering that last year's show was all but rained out, only a few intrepid Land Rovers making the trek over freeways and a slightly muddy infield to show their colors.

"Oh, it is lovely!" Tina Van Curren, who cofounded the show with three friends when she's not running Autobook Aerobooks just down the road in Burbank, said at this year's show. "Last year was underwater, now it's just cold. We're very happy. The sun is out, the cars are here. Everybody's having a good time. The British are a hearty group. The British car people are more likely to go out in the inclement weather than the Italian car people. It'll be a good time for all. Stiff upper lip."

Van Curren knows the difference between the Italian car people and the British since she also co-founded the Best of France and Italy car show, which is held in the fall (and which, like this show, should be on your calendar if you're anywhere nearby).

Because of the solid rain the day before, a lot of exhibitors may have wimped out, their stiff upper lips a little too pouty. We counted 83 cars by the time we had to leave at 11:30 a.m. But we figured the recent inclement weather just served to weed out the weak. The ones who showed were the ones worth talking to. Such as Tony Raynor, who drove his exquisitely restored 1936 Singer with no heat all the way from Claremont.

"I've got three of these things," he said. "Oh, I need a lot of therapy."

Raynor was one of the small number of actual Englishmen on hand on Sunday. His love of British roadsters came naturally because, he says--he grew up near a busy road listening to them.

"In those days you could listen and know, 'That's a Daimler' or 'That's a Jaguar.' They all had a different note."

He got pretty good at identifying them and the sounds stuck in his head ever since.

"As they were right outside my door they kind of grew on me. Now I've saturated myself in these damned things and I can't afford to buy anything else."

Not that he seems to want to buy anything else.

Lex DuPont parked his 1955 H.R.G. (Halford Robbins Godfrey, and if you knew that you get a special prize) next to Raynor's Singer. He inherited his car from his family, a line of succession not unlike a royal title for the Windsors.

"I've always grown up around them," he said. "This car, as far back as I can remember, was in a garage that my mother had. My father raced them and that's the way I've grown up."

The car was purchased by a cousin, who sold it to DuPont's father, who gave it to his mother, who drove it for a while. When Lex DuPont turned 16 in 1972, he got to drive it but only for a while. It was parked in an airplane hangar full of cars, planes and motorcycles where it sat for 20 years before he got hold of it again.

"I was last in line of succession," he explained.

He's had it since 2000.

"I experimented a little bit with the Italian stuff," he said. "It wasn't the same. I had to have the British stuff."

When he got the H.R.G. out of the barn it needed tires, brakes and a clutch, but the rest of the car is as it was in 1955, minus a half-century's wear and tear.

"I come from a family that has way too many projects," he explained. "My father had zillions of cars, motorcycles and airplanes."

Sounds like a family reunion we'd like to attend.

John Holodnik drove up in a nuclear-Kermit green Lotus 11. But it wasn't really an 11. It was a Kokopelli. Never heard of a Kokopelli? (Anyone who knew both Kokopelli and H.R.G. gets two prizes.) Kokopelli was a guy in Maryland who loved Lotii but wanted them to be stronger and more powerful. So he built his own, or at least he built six of his own, with stronger 1 3/4-inch tube frames and supercharged engines. After he finished the six, he was done with it and never went back. Last word was that he was putting V8s into MGBs, which sounds entirely reasonable.

What drew Holodnik to the Kokopelli? The same thing that has always drawn him to British sports cars.

"I guess I would go with the styling," he said. "They just have such a unique look, unlike any other carmaker. Ever since I was a kid I was attracted to the styling, especially the roadsters--the Austin Healeys and the Triumphs."

Luckily, Holodnik has a mechanical acumen to match his aesthetic love of British cars. When he got it less than a year ago, the Kokopelli Lotus "needed sorting."

"The tune was so far off you couldn't keep it running," he said. "At idle you were crossing your fingers that you weren't gonna die."

So far, after nine months of ownership, he appears to be living quite well.

As was Laura Bateman and her 1965 Triumph Sport 6. She got the Triumph bug back in the marque's glory days in the 1970s when her dad bought her a Triumph Herald for $300. In a clear case of sibling rivalry her brother immediately went out and bought a TR4 for $400. It's been Triumphs ever since.

"I just think it's fun--fun to drive, fun to own. They don't depreciate. You can fix 'em yourself. I've rebuilt the carburetor myself on my own before. So it's, like, no biggie. I've hardly seen any of them but we own three--two complete cars and the other one is basically our insurance policy."

Sheldon and Irene Jones have Morris Minor Woodies.

"Termites and rust,' said Sheldon. "Honey, I've shrunk the Woodie. The old flathead Woodies got 13 to 14 mpg. You get these things and they get 30."

"Or 40," said Irene.

In their fleet of three or four, or five (hard to keep track), Sheldon does the mechanical, electrical and body work while Irene does the wood restoration and interior. They're the perfect couple.

Auto-industry executive Rex Parker brought a Lotus 110 (if you can get that, the Kokopelli and the H.R.G., we'll come to your office and buy you lunch). The 110 is a carbon-fiber bicycle that Parker bought when he worked at that storied marque.

"They were made in 1992 for the Olympics," Parker said.

The bikes did well at the Olympics. One still holds the record for one hour's pedaling around a board track at 37.2 miles. This one weighs 19 pounds, which was pretty good for 1992. Current bikes can weigh 14 pounds. We just saw a McLaren bike that weighs 12.

Tom Trafton's Jaguar MkII 3.8 was in slightly less pristine condition than that when he bought it.

"It was a piece of crap," he said. "I shouldn't have bought it."

It was so bad that Trafton spent a year just building the extra garage in which to rebuild the Jag. Then he spent four years rebuilding it, a complete frame-off restoration that looks spectacular, down to the porcelain-coated exhaust headers. Before this project he had spent another five years rebuilding a Rover 2000. Is he a masochist?